Shattered Dreams
by LunarLacrimosa
Summary: Sam finds the Allspark shard in his pocket, and it sends him to an alternate universe. At first he thinks he's dreaming, but slowly comes to realize that he's living through a nightmare. The Decepticons are now the ones trying to save his life, and the Autobots no longer care if he dies, and Bumblebee even tries to kill him. Shattered glassverse/movieverse and character death
1. Chapter 1

**AN: **Once more I should be finishing other stories and not starting new ones, but here we are... Nice little prologue, next chapter will be where we actually start to see the differences. For anyone who doesn't know, Shattered Glass 'verse is basically where the Autobots are the evil ones and the Decpeticons are good. Everything switches. Though I might have some mechs be inherently good, I don't know. Also, whether there will be any pairings or not is another unknown.  
**Song lyrics:** It's cold tonight by Aiden.

* * *

Samuel James Witwicky was a very content teenager. Like every typical teenager his dreams had been fairly shallow and simple, involving the car, the girl, and possible high school recognition, maybe even suddenly become great at a sport or get bitten by a spider. Now he had gotten the car, the girl, and the best part was he'd gotten to meet the Autobots. He'd had his dreams fulfilled and got more than he had ever expected. He had never dreamed that creatures like the Autobots existed, that he'd become best friends with one, or that he'd become someone important to the Autobots as a whole. He had never thought he would be saving the world either, or that, Allspark cube in his hands or not, he would be able to take down the evil leader of the Decepticons.

Meeting the Autobots had also been a huge reality check, though. He realized that having a car and the girl were not the most important things in the world, that his occasional acne issues and fights with his parents over curfew were not the worst things that could ever happen, and that not being popular and going unnoticed by most in his high school was not the end of the world. He'd never been very popular, just the average Joe. Average grades, average at sports, some good friends and some not so good friends. He'd always been slightly self-conscious, and if someone had told him even a day before Mission City that he would have done everything he ended up doing, he would have thought them insane and sent them away with a laugh. But he had tapped some unknown side of himself and gotten through Mission City, worked up enough self-resolve, because he couldn't call it bravery, to actually shove the Cube in Megatron's chest. The day he learned about the Autobots, and the Cybertronians as a whole, was a day he started to change, and it was for the better.

Meeting the Autobots not only fulfilled his current dreams, but created bigger and better ones, in his opinion. Before he had been unsure what he wanted to do after high school, though he'd had plans to aim for a relatively 'safe' job, like teaching. Now he wanted to go into the military or government, work for the Autobots. What he really wanted to do was become the official Autobot liaison, though he would be happy with anything he could get, even being a soldier and out on the battlefield shooting Decepticons, as long as he got to stay with his 'bots.

That was something else that had changed, because he would have never once considered the military. Sure, he was all for their men overseas, but he didn't have any soldiers in the family so had always been disconnected from it in a way. Meeting Captain Lennox, Sergeant Epps, and Tech Fig had given him a new respect for all their soldiers in general, and even more respect for the actual men who had been through so much in the deserts of Qatar.

After Mission City the government had practically tripped over themselves to attempt to keep the Autobots and Decepticons a secret, but also set the Autobots up with a kick ass base. Optimus Prime had requested it stay within Nevada so they would not be far from their Autobot Scout, and the government had agreed, buying up some desert and labeling it military land. There they built Autobot City, something Sam was continuously awed by no matter how long he actually spent there. Going normal speed limits, something Bumblebee rarely did when there was no prying eyes around, it took about two hours to get to Autobot City from his hometown of Tranquility, so it was easy to go and spend the weekends, or get there after school and go home a bit late.

And spend time there he did, a lot of it. He had personally helped in building Autobot City, though admittedly it was a very small amount, and all he'd really done was paint and hammer a few nails into place in the soldier barracks. Everything that the Autobots would actually be using was generally too heavy for him, or any other organic for that matter, to handle. The Autobots did a lot of the work themselves, even Optimus himself, or the humans helped with their machines. One weekend Sam had been there and it had only held one hangar where everyone slept and ate together, and the next weekend it had been half way done. Autobot City had to be big because the Autobots not only required a lot of room, but because they were also hoping more of them would be landing soon.

Mikaela was there too, occasionally, but not nearly as often as he was. Sadly, they had broken up after only a month. Actually getting to know the girl made Sam love her in an entirely different way, and on her part her feelings had arisen from the fact that she wanted to try something other than muscle heads like Trent, and the adrenaline rush of everything in, leading up to, and after Mission City. Both were now just good friends, though Sam still thought she was hot as hell, something Mikaela would use against him if she ever needed to get her way in something.

After Simmons had erased her and her father's records, Mikaela had started to work in her father's car repair shop. She also spent a lot of time making sure he stayed clean, and that she kept their money secreted somewhere safe if he ever had a lapse in judgment. Mikaela did make sure to come around every so often to visit Sam and Bumblebee, and scheduled semi-frequent trips to Autobot City to visit everyone else. Some days she'd go and snatch Bumblebee away from Sam, and by the time Sam got him back, always at least five hours later, he had either been used for a girls day out, subjected to Mikaela's mechanic scrutiny, or been used for shopping for a new outfit.

Sam had become quick friends with Bumblebee, and their friendship had only become easier when Ratchet had given all the Autobots on Earth the capability of using holograms and holoforms, like the Decepticons already had. It meant Sam could do so much more with his Guardian, though they usually just ended up playing videogames or sitting on Bumblebee's hood and talking.

It also meant that Bumblebee didn't only just have to play non-sentient car, something Sam knew he was ecstatic about, and he couldn't blame him. Bumblebee might have volunteered to become his Guardian, but after a week of doing nothing but sit in Sam's school parking lot, the Scout himself had admitted he was going stir crazy. And that was with being able to access the internet and play five separate accounts on World of Warcraft at the same time. This allowed Bumblebee to really become a member of the Witwicky household, even being made to take out the trash and help in Sam's parent's garden, something the Scout had no problem with doing.

Sam had asked him about it one night, if it bothered him that his parents were giving him chores that they actually expected him to do, and Bumblebee's answer had been surprising and eye opening, which was a normal occurrence with the Autobots. After being in the War for as long as Bumblebee had, being assigned things like normal every day chores was a blessing and reprieve. Bumblebee had chores on board the ARC and with the Earth bound team, but these involved learning how to fight with Ironhide, helping Ratchet, or other war tasks. In human years, Bumblebee would be near Sam's age, and relished being able to just be innocent again, play games and listen to the 'adults' without having to worry whether he would never wake up again the next day.

Bumblebee's holoform also allowed him to meet Miles, and that had been something Sam had been looking forwards too. His childhood friend was a huge space buff, and had always been the one who said there was other life beyond the stars, while Sam had scoffed at the idea. They'd had to come up with a name and story for Bee's holoform, but it had been worth it. The first day Miles and Benji, most often referred to as Bee, had met the two had talked for hours about the possibilities of other life, space travel, and other such things. Bumblebee had actually seen other life forms besides Cybertronians and humans, and enjoyed talking with Miles about it, though he couldn't exactly say he met them. They'd been ordered to try and keep it a secret, so Bumblebee just pretended to be a Space geek like Miles, which wasn't hard for the Scout.

This allowed Sam to spend time with both of his best friends, given they didn't start throwing complicated things like 'light speed' around in their conversation. Otherwise he was so out of there. That, and Miles introduced Bumblebee, and through him all of the Autobots, to shows like Star Trek and movies like Star Wars and Alien vs. Predator. Bumblebee and Optimus loved the Star Trek and Star Wars, and Ironhide had gotten a huge kick over the Alien vs. Predator and other similar movies.

It had been only two months since he had officially met the Autobots, and the end of school was just around the corner, something he couldn't wait for. He had plans to spend even more time at Autobot City without having to worry about missed school or homework that needed done.

Today, though, he was going to Autobot City for an entirely different reason than just a social visit. Bumblebee required a checkup with Ratchet, and the Scout had tried to use Sam as an excuse to miss it. So Sam was being dragged along, though he hardly minded. He was just in the middle of getting ready, pants half way up his legs, when two honks from outside drew his attention. He half hobbled and half hopped to his window, before shoving it up and leaning outside to look at his Autobot Scout.

"_It's so cold tonight, we're going nowhere fast!_"

Despite his vocalizer being fixed, Bumblebee still liked to use the radio and different songs he had downloaded to talk. Sam would have yelled at him to be mindful of the neighbors, except the Scout was already doing that, holoform out and grinning up at Sam. He didn't recognize the song, but he took the hint. The desert got surprisingly cold at night, and his Guardian wanted him to grab a jacket.

Bumblebee was always a bit anal over Sam, and Mikaela had accused the Scout of being a mother hen more than once. The only reason Sam dealt with it was because he knew why Bumblebee did it. Humans didn't even live the shutter of an optic to Cybertronians, and Bumblebee wanted Sam to live as long as possible. It was also easier to just do what Bumblebee wanted, because otherwise he was either locked out of the Autobot, locked inside the Autobot, or manhandled by a holoform, none of which Sam particularly enjoyed.

So, grab a jacket. Sam frowned, glancing around the room. Tranquility had a fairly mild climate and it rarely if ever snowed. Even if it did Sam, and several other males of his age, would just go out without one for the most part. The only jacket Sam could think of that fit him anymore was the one he had worn in Mission City, so he set out to find that, which was a harder task than he would have liked.

Five minutes later he had found it, tossed into the back of his closet and buried under a pile of junk. Grabbing it by the shoulders he gave it a few good shakes as it was slightly dusty. He gave it a sniff, happy to see his mom had washed it at some point, though it still looked like it had been through the ringer. As a habit he gave a cursory inspection of the pockets. He was always leaving money, grocery lists, or anything small enough that he could carry around and bothered to put in his pockets inside of his pockets. Usually the stuff came out after both the washer and dryer, but sometimes there was an especially stubborn thing.

The check revealed a small, slightly rough to the touch object, and he pulled it out, staring in surprise. He recognized a piece of the Allspark cube immediately, infinitely smaller than the actual object. From the looks of it he would have expected it to be smooth, but a closer look revealed miniscule engravings on the outside. He was completely stumped on how it had even gotten into his pocket in the first place, much less that it existed at all. They had all thought the last existing piece of the Cube was the one Optimus had pulled out of Megatron's dying Spark.

Sam was about to call outside to Bumblebee about the shard when he accidentally inhaled some of the dust still in the air, sneezing and reflexively bringing his hand up to cover it. Without thinking it had been the sneeze holding the shard of the Allspark, and Sam winced when he realized, going to clean it off in his shirt when it grew scorching hot in his hand. Sam gasped and dropped it in surprise, watching it bounce twice before giving off a brilliant white light.

* * *

Sam felt hot all over, waking up a sweaty mess and tangled up in his bed sheets. Groggily Sam shoved them off his torso and arms, trying to stand up without thinking and landing straight on his face with one leg still caught. He groaned, rubbing at his nose and kicking until he was free, laying on his bedroom floor for a moment until he felt safe enough to try and get up again. When he finally picked himself up, he glanced at the clock by the head of his bed, eyes widening in surprise. The clock sitting by his bed was one he'd had since childhood, shaped as Mickey Mouse's head.

But Bumblebee had destroyed that clock, making Sam buy a plain black one.

Despite the fact that their technology had been reengineered from Megatron, it didn't mean the Autobots knew anything about it when it wasn't a computer, car, or plane. The first morning Bumblebee had been scared out of recharge by Sam's blaring alarm clock, and had transformed, reaching inside and smashing it with one huge finger, doing a better job of waking Sam up then the alarm clock had been. After Sam's initial panic attack, because there was a huge robot reaching in his room with battle mask down and he had been convinced he was under attack by Decepitcons, he had carefully explained to Bumblebee that no, an alarm clock was not out to kill him. He had just been happy he left his window open that night. Later, Will had told him of how Ironhide had short the microwave in the Lennox household when he heard it running. There was a surprising amount of stuff that the Autobots just didn't bother to look up on the internet, apparently.

Sam rubbed at the back of his neck in confusion for a moment, before suddenly remembering that he had been in the process of getting ready to go to Autobot City with Bumblebee when he had ran across the Allspark shard in his jacket pocket. He cussed under his breath, immediately going to his window and opening it to call out to Bumblebee that he was fine, but he couldn't see the Autobot Scout in his driveway anymore.

He frowned, turning around and searching his bedroom floor for the shard, eventually giving up when it was nowhere to be found. He sighed, looking down at himself and realizing he was in pajamas. Maybe whatever the shard had done had made him pass out, and Bumblebee had put him back in bed. It was a bit creepy to think that his Guardian might have bothered to undress him, but Sam could live with it.

"_Sammie!_" Sam heard his mom yell from downstairs, "_Hurry up and come eat breakfast now or you'll miss the bus! And don't forget you're genealogy report is today in History!_"

"I won't mo-" Sam cut himself off mid yell, realizing what his mother had said.

_What? _He didn't even have school that day, it was Saturday and he was supposed to go with Bumblebee to get the Scout checked out by Ratchet. On top of that, he didn't have a genealogy report for History, or at least not anymore. He had one two months ago, the final A he needed before his father would allow him to buy a car, and more specifically the day he got Bumblebee.

Sam left his room, flying down the stairs and taking a jump to skip the last two altogether, sliding into view of the kitchen. His mom was cooking, humming a little tune from God knows what, and he could smell eggs, bacon, and the delicious scent of his mom's special French toast. His mouth nearly watered and his stomach growled, demanding that he do as his mother said and eat, but Sam had another thing on his mind.

"Mom, where's Bee? Did dad send him out to grab something real quick, or did he already leave without me?" Sam asked, glancing outside the kitchen window. Still no Bee.

Judy sent her son a puzzled look, "Who?"

"Bee! You know, Bumblebee?" Sam frowned at his mother, "He's been staying with us for the past two months now?"

"Sammie, are you okay?" Judy paused in her cooking, coming over and placing a gentle hand on Sam's forehead as she felt for a fever. "Do you need to go lie down? Mommy can call your school and talk to your History teacher, I'm sure he'll let you go tomorrow."

"I'm fine, Mom!" Sam protested, brushing her hand off.

He realized with a small amount of horror that his mom really had no idea what he was talking about. He left the kitchen, ignoring his mom calling him to come back and eat breakfast, going and looking in the garage. There was no sign that Bumblebee had ever been in it, nothing they had done to make it more comfortable for the Scout there anymore. Sam turned around and ran back upstairs to his room, checking his calendar and seeing the date circled, a bad feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.

"This is a dream," Sam whispered to himself. Sam pinched himself hard just to make sure, before his brain came to a complete halt.

Dreams weren't supposed to hurt.

Okay, so maybe it was a really realistic dream, Sam told himself. That could happen. People had those dreams where they were falling all the time and jerked awake in fear, but of course they weren't actually falling. He'd had several nightmares of dying a painful death at the hands of Megatron in the first few weeks after Mission City, but pain like that had never felt so real. Sam took a deep breath and chided himself for being silly; of course it was a dream. If he was going to have a detailed dream replicating when he got Bumblebee, he might as well have fun with it.

He did have some regrets with the choices he had made. The main one was when he had been unable to find the glasses quickly enough while up in his room with Mikaela, then getting caught by Sector Seven and needing rescued by the Autobots. Bumblebee had been captured and tortured, however briefly, because of that fact. And Sam and Mikaela had still been taken in by them. Then there was the embarrassing fact that he had been chased through town on his mother's bike by the Scout, no matter that he had been terrified that he was being chased by a possessed car then.

Come to think of it, it was _his_ dream. He'd already gotten Mikaela once, and ended up nearly losing Miles because of it. Miles had been there with him through thick and thin, had even taken to insulting Mikaela because he didn't want Sam to get his hopes up, and Sam had known that. But he'd still tossed his friend out like an insensitive jerk, and made him walk home. From the lake to Miles' house was a good ten miles, and most of that was on dirt back roads. To top it off he had let Miles miss out on something as amazing as the Autobots, something his friend would have absolutely loved.

Nearly losing that friendship had been all him, too. Miles had been willing to forgive and forget, had even been willing not to bother him with questions about where he'd disappeared and why he looked like he'd had a fight with a pro wrestler and lost. Unfortunately, Sam had been running on very little sleep and was still working on a combination of adrenaline and stress, and Miles' sarcastic 'Well, look what the cat dragged in' had not been appreciated. He had ended up flipping on Miles, taking out all the stress and worry on him and chasing his friend out of the house. It had taken him three weeks to work up the guts to apologize.

Not this time. This time he'd do right by Miles, would keep track of where he put those damned glasses. Hell, this time he wouldn't even attempt to hock great-grandpa Archibald's crap in History class and then string an A out of his teacher anyway. He'd actually do a decent report, get the A through honest work, hopefully, and if not he'd get it the same way he had before. Maybe he'd even avoid the party at the lake and the confrontation with Trent, though he did kind of want Mikaela in on everything even if it wasn't as a love interest this time around.

With a new appreciation for what he deemed one hell of a wacky dream, Sam whistled and got dressed, packed his backpack, and then ran downstairs to finally fill his stomach.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: **Not much differs from the movie up until the end of the car lot scene, where Sam is told to get out of Bumblebee because Ron refuses to pay anything about four grand. In fact, it stays fairly similar to the beginning of the movie, with a few things tweaked, up until the day Bumblebee chases Sam through town, which is started in the next chapter. That's when things really change, and it's a lot longer than this one.

* * *

After deciding to make the most out of his strange dream, Sam went to school in a considerably better mood then he had woken up in. He greeted Miles cheerfully, and actually managed to get an A in his genealogy report without having to try. But then again, he didn't try to hock Archibald Witwicky's stuff, either. This time he simply showed it off, got his A, then rushed out to greet his dad with it proudly.

Like he remembered, his dad drove him through the car lot that held the Porche's, Sam finding it a little hard to get as excited as he had before, though his father didn't seem to notice, taking just as much enjoyment this time as he had before as he laughed at Sam's faked pain by turning him down again. Unlike before, Sam could only feel growing excitement as his dad neared Bolivia's Finest Quality Used Cars and Petting Zoo, and almost as an afterthought he decided to try to keep to his original reaction upon seeing the place.

"Here?" Sam questioned exactly from memory, "N-no, no, no, what is this? You said half a car, not half a piece of crap!"

"Your age I would have been happy with anything that had four wheels and an engine," Ron returned, glancing at his son in amusement as they walked in between some cars.

"Let me explain something to you, okay?" Sam gestured, having a hard time acting natural, knowing beforehand that he would be getting an amazing alien robot from outer space instead of a piece of crap like he had thought. He was trying to reenact everything from his memory of the day. "You ever seen 40 Year Old Virgin?"

"Yeah," Ron gave a half nod.

"That's what this is," Sam gestured at the dark green car on their left, and then to the car on their right. "And this is _fifty_ year old virgin."

"Okay." Ron barely kept himself from snorting at the actions of his son, though he did roll his eyes.

"You want me to live that life?" Sam questioned his father, turning to look at him. He sounded stupid and childish even to his own ears, now.

"No sacrifice-"

"Yeah, no victory, I got it." Sam finished easily, breezing past his dad slightly. "The old Witwicky motto."

"Gentlemen!"

A voice called, one Sam could already put a face and a name to, though at the time of actually buying Bumblebee he had only just met the man. It was hard to forget someone like Bobby Bolivia.

"Bobby Bolivia," Bobby continued, grabbing Sam's hand and shaking it. "Like the country, except without the runs!" He laughed at his own joke, "How can I help you?"

"Well," Ron started, "My son here is looking to buy his first car."

"You've come to see me?" Bobby put a hand to his chest.

"I had to," Sam admitted reluctantly, because even though he was dreaming Bobby still gave off a weird ass vibe.

"That… practically makes us family! Uncle Bobby B, baby." He shook Sam's hand again, "Uncle Bobby B!"

Sam forced a smile, "Sam."

"_Sam_." Bobby repeated, clapping a hand on Sam's back and then placing his arm around his neck, turning them and leading them and Ron further into the lot. "Let me talk to ya. Sam, your first enchilada of freedom waits underneath one of those hoods."

"Let me tell you something, son," Bobby continued, "The driver don't pick the car, the car pick the driver. The mystical bond between man and machine. Son, I'm a lot of things, but a liar isn't one of them. Especially not in front of my Mammy."

Bobby turned and called to two women in the next yard, signaling one specifically. "Hey Mammy!"

The woman, in turn, raised a hand and flicked Bobby off, and Sam snorted a little, biting his bottom lip to keep from outright laughing. Bobby turned back, smile a little more strained.

"Awe, don't be like that!" Then, in a quitter voice, "If I had a rock I'd bust your head, bitch…"

"She's death, y'know?" Bobby gave a quick excuse, laughing his weird laugh again and putting a hand on Sam's shoulder. Sam smiled politely back. "Well, over here… Every piece of car a man might want, or need!"

It was either irony or fate that Bobby went straight to Bumblebee right off the bat, circling the old Camaro and sliding a hand along it's trunk. Sam was thrilled, barely remembering to utter some nonsense about racing stripes to show he was somewhat interested, coming in closer to Bumblebee's driver side.

"Yeah, it got raci-" Bobby cut himself out, looking at the yellow Camaro he was currently leaning his weight onto more. "Hey… what the heck is this? I dunno nothin' about this car! Manny!"

Like before, Sam tuned Bobby out, instead peering into the open window at Bumblebee's interior, having nearly forgotten what his older form had looked like, as he hadn't had it nearly as long as the '09 version. He opened the door, slipping inside and placing his hands on the steering wheel, sighing happily. Absentmindedly he rubbed off the dirt and grime that covered the Autobot symbol.

Ron obviously noticed that Sam liked this car, and turned to Bobby. "How much?"

"Well," Bobby put his hands on Bumblebee again and licked his lips in thought, "Considering the semi-classic nature of the vehicle, with the slick wheels and the custom paint job-"

"Wha-But the paint's faded!" Sam interrupted, watching as Bobby knelt to peer in the window at him.

"Yeah, but it's custom." Bobby replied, and Sam didn't need to pretend to stare at him in disbelief.

"It's custom _faded_?"

"It's your first car; I wouldn't expect you to understand." Bobby said smoothly, straightening out and regarding Ron again. "Five grand."

"Not going above four, sorry."

Bobby wasted no time in ushering Sam out of Bumblebee's interior, "Kid, c'mon, get up outta the car."

"No, no, no!" Sam protested, "You said cars pick their drivers!"

"Well sometimes cars pick drivers with cheap ass fathers. Out the car."

This time Sam was a little quicker in getting out of the car as Bobby and his father continued to talk, Bobby walking over to the car next to Bumblebee and gesturing at it. Sam slammed the door just like before, trying to put on an air of disappointment, fully expecting what happened next. Only it happened differently. He'd gotten out quicker, and by the time he closed Bumblebee's door, Bobby wasn't in the other car yet.

The Scout didn't deign to wait, though, and instead he slammed his passenger side door open into Bobby himself, Sam staring in surprise, mouth dropping open in shock. Bobby cursed loudly, holding his afflicted leg and hopping up and down a bit. Ron was the first to react and go to the other man's side, Sam just staring at Bumblebee as his father asked if Bobby was okay.

"No, no, I'm alright." Bobby insisted, forcing a grin and trying to straighten out again. He walked forward, regaining his composure as he gestured at another car and opened his mouth again.

Sam noted Bumblebee's radio turning on just like before, and this time he didn't even flinch at the high pitched frequency alarm that went off, shattering all the windows in the cars in the parking lot, minus Bumblebee's, of course. His dad and Bobby ducked though, and then Bobby looked around slowly in horror, before turning towards them.

"Four thousand," He said weakly, holding up four fingers as if to emphasize this.

Ron grinned, easily accepting Bobby's misfortune as his fortune, heading straight towards the car salesman to get the paperwork done. But Sam stayed rooted to his spot, eyes trained on Bumblebee for near a minute before he heard his name called, turning to go join his father. The whole time he couldn't stop wondering why Bumblebee had hurt Bobby, a bubble of dread forming in his stomach.

* * *

Something was wrong with Bumblebee. The mech had let Sam drive him home, but after that the Scout had just refused to start up again. Ron had taken a look under the hood, spending five minutes staring in shock at the engine sitting inside the seemingly ancient car. Once the father had recovered from his shock, however, he tried to figure out what was wrong with the car. When he couldn't he headed inside to have an angry talk with Bobby Bolivia.

Once his father headed inside Sam took a look, having learned some things about Cybertronian specific engines from Ratchet and even Bumblebee himself. But he could find nothing wrong, no reason as to why the Autobot should be sitting in silence, emitting a put out air.

Before, Sam had had an early dinner, got some homework done while his parents went out to their precious garden, and then had gone out and gotten in Bumblebee, knowledge of a party at the lake in his head and illusions about popularity should he go there and somehow manage to be cool. On the way he had picked Miles up, only to ditch him in place of Mikaela, later driving the girl home. But how could he do any of this if Bumblebee refused to work? The mech wasn't even pretending to start up.

Angered, Sam was near asking what had crawled up the Scout's tailpipe and died, barely managing to not do so. Fine, if dream Bumblebee wanted to be stupid and stubborn, and then dream Bumblebee could be stupid and stubborn. He'd go to sleep and then wake up, tell Bumblebee about this odd dream, and have a laugh with the Scout about the strangeness of it.

* * *

Sam woke up in the middle of the night, hearing the choking sound of a car starting up and staring at his ceiling sleepily. Was he awake or dreaming? Perhaps he was dreaming a dream in a dream? The dream he had just been having was still fresh, weighing on his heart heavily even though he couldn't remember all of it. Just fighting with Miles as Mikaela watched on in exasperation, leaning against Bumblebee's hood and sipping on a mango smoothie.

He knew even before he shot up out of bed and looked out the window that he would see a '76 Camaro tearing out of the driveway, and sure enough, when he looked out the window, that was what he saw. Sam contemplated calling the cops again, but decided against it this time. He'd made that mistake last time and it had been an unwelcome experience.

He knew that before, Bumblebee had made sure Sam noticed his exit in the middle of his night, and had chased Sam on purpose. Though he had admitted he did it a little just to see Sam's scared shitless expression, he also did it to get Sam out and see what he really was, to have Sam find out so they could communicate. It didn't mean Sam appreciated thinking his car had been stolen or that his car was possessed and chasing him, but he had let it slide.

In this weird dream now, he knew that if he followed Bumblebee he would see the Autobot sending a signal into space to get his comrades. Something that surprised him, though, was that unlike before Bumblebee was long gone. Last time he had been able to follow the Scout, but this time he doubted he would be able to find him unless he was in exactly the same spot.

Sam shook his head at that thought, reminding himself that this was some kind of weird dream. But he was having a harder time believing that as time went on, everything was just too _real_.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: **Chapter three! Enjoy, and tell me what you think on how I'm handling this story so far, please. Feedback would be much appreciated! Also, sorry for any mistakes in any chapter. Not really bothering to go and check through as it is semi-late and I have to go to bed soon.

* * *

The next morning Sam jogged to Miles house, unsurprised at seeing Bumblebee sitting innocently in the driveway as if he had never left the night before. He had given a thought about seeing if the Scout would start up again this time, but found that unlikely, so just went on his merry way. Miles was already outside in his backyard, whistling as he filled up a kiddie pool with water. Sam nearly groaned, because now that he was there, he would surely be roped into helping give Miles' large canine, a mastiff named Mason, a bath.

Miles heard Sam approaching and glanced at him, Sam offering a small wave and wondering how he would tell his best friend. But then everything just came pouring out, telling the story about how he bought Bumblebee, ditched Miles at the lake for Mikaela, how Bumblebee played junk car to try and help him score some points with Mikaela, driving her home, thinking Bumblebee had been stolen and giving chase, seeing the robot send up a beam of light, his experience with the cops, his experience about being chased through town and the conversation he had with Miles beforehand, meeting Barricade, tackling Mikaela off of her Vespa, being rescued by Bumblebee, Bumblebee scanning the '09 Camaro, meeting the Autobots, learning about the war, trying to find the glasses and being taken by Sector Seven, being rescued by the Autobots only for Bumblebee to be taken, going to Hoover Dam and finding out about Megatron and the Cube, running to Mission City, and finally the ensuing battle.

And then he remembered that something strange was going on, hands pulling at his hair as he paced and told Miles about finding the sliver of the Allspark and blacking out, waking up to find out that it was the day he bought Bumblebee and thinking it was all a dream. Only now he didn't think it was just a wacky dream, because everything was too real, and Bumblebee had hurt Bobby Bolivia, had refused to work, and hadn't waited for him to follow him to the junkyard where he would give the message to his team. Sam couldn't shake the dread he was feeling that something was horribly, horribly wrong, telling all of this to Miles in a scant five minutes.

When he finished he looked up, wishing he had thought to bring his phone. It was rare to see Miles absolutely flabbergasted, and that was exactly what the teen was now. He stared at Sam with wide eyes, mouth hanging open, hose still in hand and on, but forgotten at some point and hanging limply in his hand, aimed at his feet instead of at the kiddie pool and not even realizing he was getting his legs and shorts soaked.

"Do you believe me?" Sam asked, trying not to sound desperate. He was fairly sure he was going insane; he didn't need Miles to think the same thing.

"I…" Miles trailed off, seeming to hesitate as he tried to regain his composure. "I believe that you believe you… and… that's good enough for me, dude. As long as you don't ask me to help you bury a body it's cool, but I'm more than willing to provide the shovel I use for Mason's shit if you're in need of one."

Given the situation, Sam couldn't blame Miles for his hesitancy, but he was amazed at his friend's loyalty. That was Miles though, loyal to a fault. Sam could have cried, felt close to it in fact, because in a world where everything was starting to make less and less sense, Miles could and would always be his stable rock.

Miles watched Sam warily, "Dude… I'm going to go put a shirt on, and then we're going to go to your house and just chill, play COD. You seriously need to calm down before you give yourself a heart attack."

Sam nodded gratefully, realizing that Miles was probably right. Maybe he was just thinking too much into things, downtime with his best friend and a few Mountain Dews would be a good thing to relax to.

He trudged around the house and into Miles' front yard, waiting on the curb for his friend. A couple of minutes later he could hear Miles coming out of the front door, saying something about having a coupon to Pizza Hut and they could order some pizza, but his attention was focused to the engine that he could hear roaring down the street, heart sinking as he saw Bumblebee driving towards them.

"Dude, isn't that your car?" Miles asked, coming to a stop beside Sam and watching the car that Sam had sent him a picture of come closer and closer. With a start he realized he couldn't see a driver, and turned wide eyes on Sam. "Holy shit! You weren't lying!"

Sam stared dumbly at the approaching form of his Guardian. But was Bumblebee his Guardian? Had everything he thought had happened actually happened, or had it all been a dream? Was this a dream, or was it real?

Sam had no idea what to do, so indecisive that he felt like screaming, but Miles had no problem in grabbing him and shoving him into his car. Miles had gotten a car two months before Sam, but up until that point he'd never ridden in it. It looked like a death trap compared to Bumblebee's '76 Camaro alt mode, even worse when compared to his '09 alt.

Miles wasted no time in starting it up, tearing out of the driveway surprisingly fast for a piece of shit car that was deceptively hard to handle. Sam was sure he heard something fall off, though Miles didn't pay it any heed, barely managing to get out before Bumblebee was on them.

Miles let lose a list of expletives that would have made Ratchet proud, and the Medic prided in his ability to know every cussword in a language even before knowing the actual language. Sam buckled up and tightened the seat belt around him, more terrified of the car he was in than Bumblebee, especially when Miles took so any sharp turns that his head spun, and he lost sense of where they were more than once, despite the fact that he'd lived in Tranquility his whole life.

"Bro," Sam said, glancing at Miles. "What the hell? I already told you what happens when Bumblebee chased me."

"You said things have been different," Miles pointed out, "It stands to reason that things would continue to be so, wouldn't it? You yourself changed something by coming to my house instead of staying at home and calling me on the phone."

Sam gaped, not having thought about any of that. He had actively changed something, hadn't he? Even with everything weird that Bumblebee was doing, he had still gone and gotten Miles involved. Why hadn't the thought that this would change everything even more crossed his mind? Before, when he had first thought about getting Miles in on the crazy ride, he had been excited. Now he was wondering what other surprises he might be creating for himself, or Bumblebee might give him.

Sam's biggest concern though, even more than that his friend seemed to be panicking and possibly believed Bumblebee would kill them, which was a laughable idea even though he did nothing to reassure Miles, was if this was a dream or not. The whole thing with the Allspark sliver… what could it have meant? Sam was fairly sure he hadn't dreamed up everything that had happened before, he'd never had any clairvoyant tendencies, nor was everything staying the same.

He was so deep in thought that he didn't notice how far out of the city they had gone, or how they had actually managed to lose Bumblebee, until Barricade darted in front of them, stopping in the middle of the road and making Miles slam on the brakes, jerking both boys in their seats hard. Sam hit his head off the dashboard, the seatbelt doing little to help him, and the car had no airbags.

Dazed, he rubbed at his surely bruised forehead, listening to Miles as he unbuckled his seatbelt and get out of the car. Belatedly, he realized he had never bothered to tell Miles what Barricade's alt mode had been.

"Oy, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Miles snapped angrily.

Sam realized what a terrible idea that was, and practically leaped out of his side of the car. "No, no, no, get back in!"

But it was too late. With a growl, Sam watched in horror as Barricade transformed to his bipedal form, glaring down at them. Miles made a choked sound, sidling over to Sam.

"Which one of you is LadiesMan217?" Barricade demanded, and Sam closed his eyes, torn between being thankful that at least Barricade was sticking to his role, or terrified. The Decepticon turned red optics on Sam, narrowing them and assessing him, and he was sure, scanning him. "Are you LadiesMan217?"

"Yes," Sam said, not seeing the point in lying. He regretted ever getting an EBay page.

"Where are the gla-"

"Up your exhaust port, you oversized bad cop reject!" Sam gritted out, cutting Barricade off.

This momentarily stunned the Decepticon, and Miles stared at Sam with an equally stunned look. And then Miles turned to look Barricade dead on, proceeding to shock Sam even more than he had managed to shock Barricade with his stupid organic gall.

"I sincerely apologize for my friend's rudeness," Miles said, and Barricade focused on him instead of Sam. "You see, he thinks he's lived all this before."

"Indeed?" Barricade spared a glance at Sam now before focusing on Miles once more, growling. "And what happened before?"

"Well, you were quite rough with him, which I know you won't be now." Here Miles paused, giving Barricade an expectant look. When Barricade actually _nodded_, Sam was certain he was going insane. Barricade, listening to an organic? _Barricade_ not attacking him? "After that Bumblebee, his Camaro, I think, proceeded to whoop your metal ass."

Sam stared at Miles in horror, but Barricade merely gave an amused snort, allowing Miles to continue.

"So, siding with Autobots, boring stuff, getting kidnapped, boring stuff, finding the Cube and your leader, boring stuff, Mission City epic battle royal, Autobots win, Decepticons lose." Miles finished, shrugging.

"You wish to help the Autobots?" Barricade snarled, looking at Sam. "Helping that filth will do you know good."

"They're not filth!" Sam defended, glaring at Barricade. "You and your faction would sooner watch this planet burn then let us live peacefully!"

"I would watch what you say, organic. I do not know where you have gotten your information, but you are sadly misinformed." Barricade took a threatening step forward, and Sam took one back, though Miles appeared unfazed. "The only way we would rather see this planet burn is if it was the only option to seeing the Autobots gain control of it. They plan to siphon this planet for all its fuels, harvest the sun for its energy, use the Allspark to turn all the appliances to drones to help rebuild Cybertron, and they could care less about you or your little organic buddies."

"You're lying!"

"You're delusiona-" Barricade never got to finish his insult, a plasma round coming and slamming into his chest, and without even thinking Sam grabbed Miles and ducked behind the side of Miles' shit car.

Sam cheered when he saw Bumblebee stalk towards them and the downed Barricade, though the Decepticon didn't stay down for long. Barricade quickly righted himself, transforming his servo into his own weapon and pointing it at Bumblebee.

Bumblebee chirped sweetly, "_**Just leave the organics to me, Barricade. I'll take good care of them, and maybe once we have the Allspark we'll be kind enough to tell you where Megatron is.**_"

"_**You can't have them!**_"

They spoke in Cybertronian, Sam recognizing the hisses, whirrs, clicks, and warbles; though he had no chance of understanding what was said. He leaned up enough to peer through one of the windows of Miles' car, watching the battle going on a relatively safe distance away, though he knew that no matter what distance he'd never be safe with a Decepticon around.

When Bumblebee appeared to be winning, Sam cheered openly for his Guardian, whooping loudly. Miles was oddly silent beside him, considering that they were being saved from _Barricade_, and he was watching two giant alien robots fight to the death right along with Sam. Sam hardly cared, though. Finally something was going right! Bumblebee was protecting him just like he should be, and Barricade would be taken down, and then he'd get Bumblebee the glasses, or maybe just tell the mech where everything was right off the bat.

Sam was so happy that he never noticed Miles stand up, racing around the side of the car and whistling sharply. This gained Bumblebee's attention, who stood with a ped on Barricade's chassis, a cannon in the Decepticon's face.

"Look," Miles called out to Bumblebee, "You don't need the glasses, okay? The Cube is in Hoover Dam, along with Megatron! Just let him go!"

"Miles!" Sam cried in shock, watching as Barricade took the opportunity provided by the distraction and shoved Bumblebee away from him, shooting the mech in the knee joint and causing Bumblebee to go down, cursing in Cybertronian. Barricade's optics then dimmed, and he knew exactly what that meant, the mech was sending out a communication on his comm link to all his comrades. And, if he was right, none of the Autobot Earth team had landed yet. The Decepticons would reach Megatron, and more importantly the Allspark, first. He raced over to Bumblebee, giving the mech a worried once over. His knee seemed to be the only thing badly injured, and he knew that Barricade would be able to use it against him if they continued to fight.

Miles ran over to Sam, trying to pull him away from Bumblebee and that was when Sam had enough. He didn't know what conclusion Miles had come to, and why he had picked Barricade to choose, but he was wrong. He turned and slapped Miles, which was admittedly a girly thing to do, but neither he nor Miles were strong enough to actually bother throwing around punches, and it got his point across.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Sam had never actually yelled at Miles before, but now he was. "How stupid are you? I told you everything, and you just gave him the information! How could you? Now the Decepticons are going to win and everyone is going to die!"

"_**Well then,**_" Bumblebee snarled in Cybertronian at Barricade, angered that he'd been bested by the Decepticon when he'd been so close to killing him, and that now, if the organic wasn't lying, the Decepticons knew where Megatron _and_ the Cube was. "_**I guess I'll just have to terminate this organic and retrieve the Cube later.**_"  
"SAM!" Miles didn't understand Cybertronian, barely understood what was happening at all, but he understood the look in Bumblebee's optics, and the way he pointed his cannon at Sam and what that meant.

Sam felt Miles shove him forward, towards Barricade, exactly the opposite direction of where he wanted to be. Sam stumbled forward, trying to stop himself before he went more than a few feet, and nearly falling to his knees before he managed to find his footing again, turning to yell angrily at his friend again. But the familiar blast of a cannon, heat so close to him as Bumblebee tried to adjust to the surprising movement of the one he was aiming at, seemed to suck all the anger out of him, leaving only confusion.

Bumblebee laughed coldly, "How heroic, little organic trying to save it's little organic friend. I'll just take you instead, then."

Dazed, he watched as a yellow servo darted down and grabbed Miles, Bumblebee turning his sweet laugh into a growl as the confusion filtered into horror and Sam listened to his best friend cry out in pain. Sam froze, just now realizing how different this Bumblebee was compared to his. He watched, everything blurring together, unable to connect Miles' moving mouth to the voice that called Bumblebee a monster, or that it was really Bumblebee's servo squeezing until cracks were heard and there was silence from Miles, Barricade's voice a distant rumbling thunder in the background trying to plead with the Autobot, so close to _begging_, the whole time. He watched dully as Miles was dropped, death to the words Bumblebee and Barricade were exchanging, blind and unfeeling to Barricade picking him up and holding him close should Bumblebee try to attack, only seeing the prone form of the blonde.

One moment Sam was being held by Barricade and the next he was inside the Decepticon, everything going so fast that Sam almost couldn't process anything, couldn't feel anything as Barricade fled. The smart thing to do, really, because Bumblebee had back up coming and Barricade was already wounded and he had to protect Sam, but this thought didn't register to him at all. The only thing he could think was that it all had to be a dream, couldn't be anything but.

And then he started to scream, startling Barricade so badly that the Decepticon swerved sharply before righting himself. Sam couldn't blame him, somewhere in the back of his mind there was a tiny rational voice, asking why he was freaking out, but even he didn't fully understand why he was screaming. But everything was wrong, so wrong. Miles shouldn't be dead, Barricade shouldn't be the one saving his life, and Bumblebee shouldn't be evil. He needed to wake up, had to wake up.

Dimly, he heard Barricade cursing in Cybertronian, could feel the seatbelt holding him back against the Decepticon's seat firmly so he wouldn't hurt himself or the 'con, and could just note smelling something similar to the peppermint candies Miles was always sucking on before everything went black.

* * *

When Sam woke up again it was to the smell of the sea chasing away the lingering dreams of peppermints and his childhood, recognizing it from the time he and Bumblebee had gone with the rest of the Earth team to the sea, as the Autobots had yet to see it. Sitting in Bumblebee's servo just relaxing in the mech's presence and watching the sun rise over the water had been one of the most memorable moments of his life, only made better when Ironhide shoved Ratchet off the cliff they happened to be standing on and into the ocean below.

"Have you regained your processor finally?"

The voice and sharp tone it used quickly brought Sam out of his nostalgia, the teen opening his eyes to the unfamiliar setting of Barricade's interior. He stayed silent, looking out the window for a more welcoming sight, but it was too dark to see anything nice at all. The sky was partially clouded, managing to cover most of the moon's light. What managed to escape fell on dark churning waters, fast winds harshening what might normally be a calming wave pattern, though Sam couldn't be sure. They were high up, like on the cliff he had just been thinking about with Bumblebee and the 'bots, and Barricade was still driving, heading down it. From what Sam could tell they were heading towards the beach.

"Well?" Barricade asked, clearly irritated, making Sam glare at the steering wheel and grit his teeth.

"My best friend just got killed; I think I have every right to have a moment of craziness." Sam snapped, "And organics call it a brain, not processor, by the way. You should learn this stuff before commenting, most wouldn't have any idea what you were talking about. In fact, most people wouldn't even know you could _exist_, so don't go chatting up the mailman, got it?"

Barricade growled, "I know exactly what your kind calls what, I simply do not care, Ladiesman217. I do agree it is a shame that the other organic has died, as he was much more amiable than you appear to be, but that does not mean I will be nice to you. I tried being nice, and it got the other organic killed. In fact, it was you who got angry at him, even. You struck him just before he saved you. You should have listened to him."

Sam was too shocked by his words to say anything, because it was his fault Miles was dead, wasn't it? Even after Miles telling Barricade about Megatron and the Cube in Hoover Dam, he'd still tried to side with Bumblebee and the Autobots. Miles had done the complete opposite. Bumblebee had tried to kill Sam, would have if Miles hadn't shoved him toward Barricade. So he killed Miles instead. And he'd hit Miles, yelled at him just mere seconds before getting him killed.

Sam felt the hot pricks of tears stinging at his eyes, but he did his best to hold them back. Now was not the time to cry. The change from road to sand was a relatively smooth transition, but Sam took note of the difference immediately anyway because he couldn't think of any conceivable reason as to why Barricade was driving towards the _ocean, _and he desperately needed something to distract him from thoughts about Bumblebee and Miles. He thought about asking, but bit his tongue instead, too stubborn to do so. The Decepticon wasn't his friend, and even if he had been trying to be kind before like he claimed, he'd been doing a piss poor job of it and even worse one now.

But Barricade was now literally driving into the ocean, slowing down considerably the deeper they got as he had to adjust to the force of the waves pushing against him. Sam stared out the window in silent horror, watching as the water rose… rose… and then they were totally submerged. Barricade's interior fell dark, only the lights from his dash being any help at all, but Sam preferred not being able to see just how deep they were going.

"Barricade?" Sam hated how his voice cracked on the ry part of Barricade's designation, but it was fairly shaky anyway.

He got no response, and Sam began to panic. How deep were they going to go? He knew that the Cybertronians could survive in space without any kind of protection, though if it wasn't a seeker they did need a means to get around. But could the pressure affect him in Barricade's interior? How far were they going? Sam was fairly sure Barricade couldn't just make oxygen, and as it felt like they were just going deeper it was unlikely that the 'con would be getting a fresh dose soon.

Sam took a deep breath, determined to hold it as long as he could. Before the Autobots, before the Decepticons, before he'd ever known about aliens, he never would have been so conscious of every single way a human could die. But time spent with Bumblebee made him more aware, and in some ways he was learning just as much about his fragility as Bumblebee was.

Now more than ever before he was realizing it was a very strange possibility. This strange place that was so like his own reality, but was horrifyingly different at the same time, where his best friend died and he had no fling with the hottest girl in school. Now Bumblebee was trying to kill him, all the Autobots probably were if Sam thought about it, though he refused to, and Barricade was trying to save him.

Somehow, Barricade must have realized what Sam was doing, and through that realized what was worrying the teen. And somehow Sam recognized that the Decepticon was speeding up, a glance at the speedometer confirming this, though he didn't need it. Sam found himself appreciating that the 'con was taking steps to insure Sam's wellness and take his fears to spark, even though he was sure that the Decepticon probably wouldn't have taken him under in the first place if it was a real concern. Bumblebee wouldn't have, anyway. His Bumblebee, not the messed up one.

Just as Sam finally lost the battle, sucking in a couple of deep breaths, some lights began to shine in the distance. Since they were underwater it took Sam off guard, making him forget to hold his breath as Barricade sped up even more, and they rapidly approached the tiny pinpricks of light.

Except the light was getting bigger, more lights joining it, and within minutes it was light enough for Sam to see a huge looming figure, the biggest metal hulk of… something that he had ever seen in his life growing bigger with each passing moment. It was clearly Cybertronian, presumably Decepticon if they kept nearing it. It looked like a giant building of some sort, definitely alien, unlike anything he'd ever seen before.

Barricade said nothing as a set of metal doors slid apart for him, and he drove inside of them, coming to a stop in the middle of a platform. The doors slid closed behind them, and Barricade waited as the water was mechanically drained out of the sealed tight room, the next set of metal doors only sliding apart to allow entrance once all of the water had drained out. Barricade drove through them and then stopped once more; honking at some Decepticon Sam didn't recognize who appeared to be the one monitoring the entrance, sealing it tight once more.

Barricade popped open his door and Sam automatically stepped out, watching as Barricade then transformed before him.

"Welcome to the Nemesis, Samuel James Witwicky." Barricade gave the greeting somewhat sarcastically, but sincere in his own way, gazing down at him. "You will be seeing Megatron shortly; I have been given word that he has already arrived. And with the Cube, no less."

Even with all the fresh oxygen surrounding him, Sam suddenly felt like he was suffocating.


End file.
